5 Ways to Utilize Social Media for Your Fundraiser

Before online social networking became the mainstream medium that it is today, fundraiser organizers used to break an arm and a leg to promote their advocacies and enlist supporters in the process. Not only is an extensive network beneficial to strengthening a cause, it is also crucial to make sure that the organization is earning the funds meant to finance their projects.

This was the scenario until the prevalence of social media which made interacting with people and making connections as easy as clicking a button. What used to be a mere channel to keep people connected gradually turned into a means of strengthening campaigns that champion noble causes. Today, social media, and by extension a vast network of people, have become an imperative tool to pursuing different kinds of campaigns and these include fundraising events. Social media helped hasten our process of promoting our advocacies to our target audience and to prospective partners.

It is no surprise then that nearly all organizations use social media to spread the word about their advocacies. The thing is not everyone is able to maximize the medium in their campaigns. Whether you’re one of those who are just beginning to grasp how to integrate social media to your fundraising drives or are simply looking for ideas on how to make the best of the channel, here are five ways you can do to further enhance your fundraiser using social media.

1. Make Your Advocacy a Brand

Let’s assume that you’re a part of an organization that champions the welfare of the environment. While we may have only one Earth, we have a wealth of movements aimed to protect and preserve it from further harm. The challenge now is how you will be able to make your organization’s advocacy unique enough for people to remember and respond.

One way to do it is by making your group’s purpose a brand that can elicit a reaction (preferably a good one) from people, and create an impact that will catch their interest. Tailor your organization’s message to an idea that can jumpstart your audience to think critically or appeal to their humor. You can also come up with photos, typographies, memes, and other visual mediums to make it easier for people to remember your brand.

These materials are highly shareable in the social media domain and as soon as your audience identifies themselves with the brand, it’ll be easier for them to help you spread the word about the advocacy.

2. Tell a Story

There are many people who tend to join or at least support an undertaking if it has a story that they can find relatable. As such, make an effort to recount to your followers and connections a story that is true and powerful. This is usually the reason why the advocacy was born in the first place; all you need to do is to tell it in a way compelling enough to get you their sympathy.

A well-related story can serve as the backbone of your brand and is easy to pass on from one person to the next. Social networks are abuzz with narratives with just about everything and making it easy for users to impart what they see from your feed to their friends. The more people know about your story, the likelier it is for you to gain more supporters and financers.

3. Exploit Different Types of Content

One of the many things that make social networks humming with life are the many kinds of mediums that can be created and shared. To keep your social dashboards alive and interesting, gather your team and come up with ideas that can be executed using a varied selection of mediums such as videos, kinetic typographies, infographics, etc.

It would also be better if the content you’ll publish goes viral. But if that’s what you’re going to aim for, you need to keep in mind that aside from being exceptionally creative with the materials, you also need to work hard at circulating it until it gets enough attention to go viral.

4. Connect with Similar Organizations

Let’s face it: it’s highly likely that there are other organizations that are a lot like yours, if not exactly. But instead of treating them as competition, you can choose to connect with them through social media and cultivate a culture of solidarity among similar advocacies. After all, it is ironic to pursue the same thing and try to outdo each other in your fundraising efforts.

In addition, interacting with a group similar to yours can be beneficial when it comes to exchanging relevant information and materials. Furthermore, it’s also a great way to expand your network which is one of the reasons why you’re in social media to begin with.

5. Include Calls to Action (CTA)

Social networking sites, by default, are armed with a handful of call-to-action features in the form of buttons. But apart from encouraging your followers to Share, Like, Retweet, or Pin, you can also include your own CTAs. There are some who opt to use the conventional invitations such as “Click to Donate,” but you can also use less aggressive suggestions such as “Click Here to Help” or “Join Our Advocacy Now”.

You should place the CTAs in a spot where your followers will easily find it, but you also need to make sure that it’s not glaring as it might turn other people off. You should also integrate a secure way of collecting their donations or payments for merchandise to make them more comfortable with joining your advocacy.

Social media can be a perfect venue to advance different causes but aside from being creative with your strategies and interacting with partners and followers, it’s equally important that you make them feel secured and informed about what the advocacy is truly about. Regularly update them with the events and activities about the organization has been participating in, and be transparent as much as you can. This way, you will not lose the trust of your supporters and consequently encourage them to invite more people to contribute to the success of your projects.

About Jack Rivera

Jack Rivera is a business writer and a marketing consultant.

A proud father to two sons, He also loves playing Chess and Magic: The Gathering.
You can also follow him on twitter: @jacksparrowXI